Film Producer Tweets Sexist Descriptions Of Women From Actual Scripts, World Loses Their Shit
Everyone, meet Ross Putman, a producer with many credits under his belt who is now my personal hero.
His wife JANE is making dinner and watching CNN on a small TV. She was model pretty once, but living an actual life has taken its toll.
— Ross Putman (@femscriptintros) February 10, 2016
Putman has recently taken to twitter, creating an account specifically to show the world how female protagonists are being described in film scripts that he has been reading.
The description on this profile reads:
“These are intros for female leads in actual scripts I read. Names changed to JANE, otherwise verbatim. Update as I go. Apologies if I quote your work.”
If you were to read these character introductions of the “Jane’s one at a time, it would seem like a cute little joke, but after reading several of Putman’s tweets in his feed, it becomes worrying that this is how females are actually being described in films. Not just any female characters – the LEAD female characters – the characters that we are supposed to care about and want to support. The main characters in films that people want to get made.
JANE, 28, athletic but sexy. A natural beauty. Most days she wears jeans, and she makes them look good.
— Ross Putman (@femscriptintros) February 10, 2016
All heads turn to find JANE (28) in the doorway: stunning and trying her best to hide it.
— Ross Putman (@femscriptintros) February 10, 2016
Could you seriously imagine Robin Wright, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Julianne Moore, Amy Schumer, Eva Longoria, Kerry Washington, Jessica Alba or Jennifer Lawrence reading these descriptions and going “Yeah I can totally see myself as a FARMLAND BEAUTY QUEEN”?
Yeah, me neither. Either these are all scripts written by Michael Bay, or beginning screenwriters have some serious learning to do when it comes to female character descriptions.
In all seriousness, well done Ross Putman for revealing where the sexism in Hollywood is coming from.
JANE, a 19 year old Bunny girl – honey-blonde farmland beauty queen.
— Ross Putman (@femscriptintros) February 10, 2016
The tweets went nuts and gathered plenty of momentum. People from the Twitter-verse and beyond responded by praising Putman for highlighting just how hilariously bad the sexist scripts were.
I think @rossputman's new feed, @femscriptintros, is my newest favorite thing. https://t.co/NtScGZGLke
— Kari Pricher (@KariPricher) February 10, 2016
Warning: it's so accurate it'll enrage you. Great work @rossputman https://t.co/omLA6lz1MX
— Tanya Jane Brain (@tanyajanebrain) February 11, 2016
Ross Putman, this is flippin' genius. A grateful nation thanks you https://t.co/4LYvN5IGIp
— Ann Hornaday (@AnnHornaday) February 10, 2016
Screenwriters and authors take note. We don’t need this kind of shit in the 21st century!